The Labor enquirer., 1887-05-28
THE PROOFS.
The Knit Goods Workers
Charge Powderly and His
Board with Treachery.
A Damning Record OF FalschOOd,
Duplicity, ShuiIilng and
lncapacity.


Goors Assembly Of the X. OF L., "rhe La
Dor Stage" OF Amsterdam, N. Y, May q.
cmARoE THAT MUST he MADE-TREAcHERY
ON NoApAorrY or THE GENERAL EXECUTIVE
BoARp-ARE THEY EXECUTORS OR DrcTA-
roRs-suAMxYuL HANDLING OF THE AM
sTERpAM KNIT GOODS LocxouT-MAsTERLY
INACTIVITY AND wAsTEfuL souASDERISo
OF THE ORDERS FuSDs-uUMBLrS0 THE
ORDER pEronE PETTY ASSOCIATION OF
oAPrTALisrs.
We have always stood ready to defend
the officers OF the X. Of L., general or To-
cal, from hasty aspersions and reckless
charges. We ever had charitable con-
struction for any apparent wrong motive
or action, and have been ready 10 erpiain
array or cocer up anything of the kind for
the sake OF harmony and the good Of the
Labor organization.
Only when there was no room for doubt
of n wrong intention have We offered crit
icism, and then we have not hesitated to
speak distinctly and strongly.
We we're forced to IL in the case of Mr..
Barry, when he belied himself here before
our Knights and our public, and now our
duty obliges us to go still further and ar
raign he general erecuiire board. We hate
TO do II, but the facts are before us, there
Is no Disgusting them, and we therefore
publicly charge hegmerdl officers rih cm-
pdbie and criminal negligence in the matter
OF our recent knit goods lockout; negli-
gence SO gross that IL has the appearance
of deliberate tredchery to our people who
had right to place confidence in these
men as their chief leaders and defenders.
Similar charges from other sources have
at times been made public. aud Il has been
he practice to met them Jp saUdge attacks
upon he person or pdper mdhing them, and
by appcdding 10 he loyal sentiment Of he or
der, 10 cryihem dorm, 10 smother them mp or
rcad heaccuscrs ont Qfihe order. In order
TO save waste of force in this direction
and to concentrate attention on the
charges themselves, we will admit for the
sake of argument, that the paper making
them il the worst in the service, and its
editor bad man.
The loyal sentiment of the order arises
from desire to preserve the order. II
those charges are true, its rery eristcnce
is endangered and we therefore ask every
member and all interested, to conhne
their attention carefully to these charges
until their truth or falsity is determined.
We firmly believe the charges to be
true. We are forced to that belief by
he facts, dgdina o,r TiH but should in
vestigation show that these charges are
false We will cheerfully assist in publish
ing the discovery.
We are not alone in making these
charges, aud our belief in their truth is
shared by dtledd Twenty-Five hundred good
and true Knights Of Labor in this district.
II might be possible to read them gH out
of the order, or make scape-goats of the
leading spirits, but II wouldn't be a
healthy thing TO attempt.
We make these charges thus publicly
because our case has been made public and
because members of the general executive
board herein accused have publicly and
before large audiences, made similar
charges against local knights and officers
of this place; charges which IL was their
duty to know we're mol true. The appar-
ent disgraceful defeat of the order 10y the
knit goods association has been made
public, as has also the apparent misplac-
ed confidence of the valiant members
of the order here, who rtiginy upon
The picdgcs ability and integrity of their
general officers, have hraycly endured
months of hardships and reproach' in de-
fensc of their principles and at the call
and command of these officers.
The extraordinary desertion and betray-
al of these faithful knights by their own
chief leaders is to-day matter of comment
in our daily press.
The DISCUS, aud Indignation of our
knights demands immediate expression.
Therefore We make these charges publicly;
We charge first that at the commence
ment of our lockout when the knit goods
association concluded to ignore our dis
,rict officers. aud sent their leaders IN a
palace car 10 Pfaaddphia to attempt to
settle the case over the heads of our local
knights, they caught the board mapping
and entrapped them into making unwar-
rantcd admissions and giving pledges of
action without waiting to hear from their
own people. They forgot their position
~ executors, and assuming the position
OF diciai0rs decided without even giving the
district hearing, and decided wrong
FUZZY in fdror of the combination which
was lighting the order; and then sent Mr..
Barry here 20 force that decision upon
our people.
We charge second, that member of the
general executive board made a rr'nen
l.. a...-..t fnl NTH sar.